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The enemy has come to eternal ruin, and You have uprooted their cities; the very memory of them has vanished.
Psalms 9:6 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB The enemy is overtaken by endless ruin. The very memory of the cities which you have overthrown has perished.
  • KJV O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
  • NKJV O enemy, destructions are finished forever! And you have destroyed cities; Even their memory has perished.
  • NASB The enemy has come to an end in everlasting ruins, And You have uprooted the cities; The very memory of them has perished.
  • NLT The enemy is finished, in endless ruins; the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

The enemy is brought to endless ruin, their cities and memory wiped out. Evil powers that seemed permanent are utterly undone by God.

Overview

David contrasts the seeming permanence of enemy strongholds with their complete and lasting destruction under God's hand. What boasted of endurance is reduced to forgotten ruins. This sober picture of judgment magnifies the everlasting reign of God set forth in the next verse.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Exod 14:13But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
  • Isa 14:22–23“I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.
  • 1 Cor 15:26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
  • Rev 20:2He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
  • Mic 7:8Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will arise; though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
  • 1 Sam 31:7When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.
  • Ps 7:5then may my enemy pursue me and overtake me; may he trample me to the ground and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
  • Isa 10:6–7I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
  • Ps 34:16But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.
  • Isa 14:6–8It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows; it subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.
  • Ps 46:9He makes wars to cease throughout the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields in the fire.
  • Ps 8:2From the mouths of children and infants You have ordained praise on account of Your adversaries, to silence the enemy and avenger.
  • 2 Kgs 19:25Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
  • Exod 15:16and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.
  • Isa 37:26Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it; in days of old I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, that you should crush fortified cities into piles of rubble.
  • Jer 51:25“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn you into a charred mountain.
  • Mic 7:10Then my enemy will see and will be covered with shame—she who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her; at that time she will be trampled like mud in the streets.
  • Jer 51:62–64and say, ‘O LORD, You have promised to cut off this place so that no one will remain—neither man nor beast. Indeed, it will be desolate forever.’
  • Isa 10:24–25Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, who strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as the Egyptians did.
  • 1 Cor 15:54–57When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
  • Isa 14:17who turned the world into a desert and destroyed its cities, who refused to let the captives return to their homes?”
  • Nah 1:9–13Whatever you plot against the LORD, He will bring to an end. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
  • Isa 10:13–14For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers.
  • 1 Sam 30:1On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 9:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 9:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.